Press



March 10, 1942. c. G. MuENcH l PRESS Filed Aug. 5, 1938 2 Sheets-Shee't l Nwww z C. 6. M uench Atty-nq March 10, 1942.

C. G. MUENCH PRES S Filed Aug. 5, 1938 zsheets-sheet 2 i G'. Waarzo@ presses have required Gael G. Muench,

New @si ,5, M

The Celotex qloration, Chico, i

ration of le i closed more fully hereinafter and Ipointed out in the claims. s Referring to the accompanying drawings formins a part of this specineation and in which like means for ioading the press with the materlalto be pressed;

Fig. 2' is a partial perspective view of the ioading struction; and

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of a portion of the mechanism illustrated in Fis.' 2.

Presses have heretofore been proposed consisting of a plurality of heated platens disposed for simultaneously pressing load and unload the sheets of required additional structure mum of cosil and labor.

This invention is applicable to a variety of main sheet formation but oi a portion means to better illustrate its conheretoe kno veyors. Particularly. such boards Should not be subjected to flexing value for the purpose for which it is intended.

e present invention is well adapted to handle auch wet boards and to load them while maingthe full interlocked characteristics of the iibers thereof, and the press 'is perticularly designed to receive, press, such and expel ds in a manner more emcient than any Broadly. the invention covers cutting a con# the necessity oi conveyors therefor.

En the drawings a press is generally indicated by the numeral 2 and comprises suitable rigid framework, a plurality into a press relatively dry sheet material or boards.

will separate from each other during the opening operation of the press so that the boards may be positioned between said platens. and so that they will move toward each other during the closing operation of the press in order to subject the positionedboards to pressure, said platens at all times being maintained substantially parallel to the inclined pressing surfaces of the upper and lower headers. In Fig. 1 the platens have been indicated in their opened position ready to receive boards from the loading rack.

The angle of inclination of `the platens to the horizontal may-be made as desired and therefore the nature of the material to be pressed may be taken into consideration in arriving at the angle of inclination desired for that material. The angle of inclination therefore should be substantially the angle of repose of the sheets which web having a thickness of three-quarters of an inch to one inch but such web contains a considerable amount of moisture at the time that it is cut in'to the 4x12' sheets, and the press is designed to exert a pressure on said sheets which will reduce such thickness to one of the order of one-quarter of an inch, the heat of the platens driving out the moisture content and so compressing the fibers of the sheets as to result in an extremely dense substantially homogeneous and nrmly interlocked sheet of hard board, the moisture readily escaping from the press due to the inclination of the platens thereof.- Therefore it is to be understood that whereas 22 has been found a very advantageous angle of inclination of the platens of the press in connection with the manufacture of hard board, other angles of inclination may be found more suitable in connection with the manufacture of other pressed sheet material, the governing factor being that for any material the angle of inclination should be substantially the angle of repose of the pressed sheet.

The loading rack comprises preferably an open framework generally identified by the numeral III mounted upon wheels II which may run upon the track railssuch as I2 whereby the rack may be transported from the the web-forming machine (not shown) to the press. Said framework carries a series of superposed conveyors indicated at I3 each conveyor to receive and to expel a board to be dried and/or pressed in the press, each conveyor preferably being endless and passing over wheels, cogs, pinions or other suitable rotatable drive members disposed at the opposite ends of the conveyor, one end portion of each conveyor having pivotal relation as at 9 with the framework of the loading rack, but the opposite end of each conveyor adapted to be elevated and lowered to change the position of the conveyor from a substantially horizontal plane to the inclined plane of the press platens. and vice versa. l

In Fig. 2 a conveyor has been indicated as comv prising a series of slats or bars I4 arranged in parallelism to each other and having their opposite ends attached to links of chains such as I5 passing around a sprocket such as I8 mounted upon a shaft I'I, said slats for receiving thereon Obvl- 7 -ner as well understood in this art so that they ously other types of conveyors could be provided, and for relatively wet sheets or boards either closely spaced slats could be used or an endless screen or other foramincus member, the governing factors of such conveyor being ability to handle the sheets or boards without damage, flexibility to turn about the sprockets, and sufficient rigidity to support the boards thereon.

A guide member Il, indicated in the drawings as a Z-bar, `supports each conveyor, the upper stretch of the conveyor chain I'preferably supported by and slidingly riding upon the upper edge of said guide. One end of said guide is pivoted to the corner 4post of the loading rack on the side next to the press, said guide at its o pposite end being provided with an elongated slot II receiving therein a stud 2l rigidly carried by a lifting bar 2| vertically slidable in a channel 22 constituting the corner post of the loading rack on the side thereof away from the press whereby, when the lifting bar is moved in a vertical direction its stud will elevate and/or lower the slotted end of the Z-bar to cause corresponding movement ofthe conveyor through the required angleof-iflclination above-mentioned. The slotted end of the Z-bar or guide member carries the conveyor shaft I1 as through the instrumentality of the bracket 23. This bracket or other similar support may be duplicated at the opposite or pivoted end of the Z-bar for carrying the other shaft of the conveyor. Ifsag of the lower stretch of the conveyor chain is not'desired, said stretch may be similarly supported on another Z-bar 24 which could be a substantial duplicate,- as to construction and mounting, of the Z-bar I8. It will be understood that the lifting bar 2l is duplicated at the other corner of the loading rack on the side thereof away from the press, and the upper ends of the two lifting bars may be interconnected as by the cross piece 2B, and that there will be a duplication of the Z-bar I8 for the opposite side chain of each conveyor.

Any suitable means may be provided for moving the lifting bars in a vertical direction but in Fig. l there has been indicated a hydraulic cylinder 30 rigidly secured to the corner posts such as 22 of the loading rack, said cylinder having a piston therein for actuating the rod 3l whose free end is pivotally connected to a bracket l! rigidly carried by the lifting bar such as 2i, said cylinder beingl provided with any suitable means for connecting it to a sourceof fluid pressure for actuating the piston therein.

In operation of this mechanism, the loading rack with its conveyors in their horizontal planes will be loaded with cut boards to be pressed, a

- board resting on each conveyor, and then the rack will be trundled to the press and positioned with respect thereto so that the conveyors will register with the opened press platens. Then fluid pressure will be passed simultaneously into the duplicate cylinders 30 to operate the pistons therein and, through the duplicate rods 3| raise the duplicate lifting bars 2| `which in turn will elevate the ends of the rack conveyors remote When these conveyors have been raised to assume the angle of inclination equal to that of the press platens. vthen the conveyors are actuated to expel -thel boards into the press. The pistons of the press are then operated in the usual manner to close the press and the heated platens will dry the boards. the time and pressure of the press'being controlled or regulated to accomplish the results desired, after which the press is opened thereby separating the ors makes possible smooth or .into and/or out of aavaeea ated similarly in unison,

the press conveyors may be oper-- loV sired to remove one board at a time. The press both before and after pressing, since movement of the conveyors will create movement of the boards.

Itis preferred, however, to avoid the added expense of the press conveyors and, by providing and maintaining the platens at the hereinbefore mentioned angle of inclination, equal if not better results are attained. The boards will slide from Vthe loading rack into the press, and

press conveyironed" surfaces on both sides of each board. However, it may be found desirable to modify mechanical exhar being suitably without interfering controlled as with to its operation the other bar and both v bars adapted for non-interference with the closing and pressing operation of the platens.

In Fig. l the ams of tangular with respect each press piston is recto the plane of the press st corners, which 8l of duplicate The conveyors of the loading rack are shown of such permit their being complemental separation distance therefrom, transfer ofthe boards to the press. Further, the elevation of the track l2 issuch that when planes of the platens.

It is obvious that vary the details o1' construction ments ofl parts without departing from the spiritl in substantial parallelism with each an angle to the horizontal, which substantially to being pressed, whereby the sheet mitted to and discharged from thrust means comprising members normal to the for taking. the thrust of the inclined substantially horizontal supports, said supports withrespect to the series of inclined superposed means for discharging the sheets from the tilted loading' means into the spaces between said at press members between which the sheets are i Pressed.

press and dry sheet maand lower heated platens or gap, during the i those skilled in the art mayV the angle of repose of the sheets4 prising guide rods mounting and maintaining said platens in substantial parallelism with each other but at an angle to the horizontal, means serving to move one of said platens toward and away from the other platen whereby the sheet material is admitted to 'and discharged from the press, and thrust receiving means separate from the saidguide rods and disposed to receive the side thrust of the platens resulting from the inclination of the platens.

4. In a. press adapted to press sheet material, the combination with a series of spaced inclined superposed platens between which 'sheets are pressed and guides mounting and maintaining said platens in substantial parallelism with one another, of thrust means separate from said guide means and disposed to take the side thrust of the series of inclined superposed platens, said thrust means taking the side thrust due to the inclination of' the platens and comprising an inclined thrust receiving member, normal to the platens, mounted onthe press, and aY complementing thrust transmittingv member secured to each platen and abutting against a surface of the inclined thrust receiving member.

5. A press adapted to press and dry sheet material, comprising a series of superposed ilat members between which sheets are pressed, guid ing means for maintaining said members in substantial parallelism with each other but at an angle of approximately 22 to the horizontal, and

4separate thrust means independent from said guiding means comprising members normal to the ilat superposed pressing members for taking the side thrust of'the inclined superposed ilat pressing members.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, a multiple opening platen press for pressing sheets comprising a series of superposed platens, means for supporting said platens in substantial parallelism with each other but at an angle to the horizontal, means for opening and closing the press through bodily movement of said platens while in their inclined positions, means for loading a series of sheets simultaneously into the press, said loading means comprising a series of normally horizontal superposed supports, each support to receive a sheet thereon, means for tilting the series of supports simultaneously into inclined planes substantially corresponding to the planes of the platens, ously discharging all tilted supports onto platens.

1. In an apparatus of the character described. a press for pressing sheets of felted fiber comand means for simultaneof the sheets from their the series of superposed press prising a series of superposed platens, means for supporting said with each other means for opening and closing thepress through bodily movement of said platens in their inclined platens in substantial parallelism position, means for loading a plurality of sheets simultaneously into the comprising a plurality press, said loading means of vertically spaced normally horizontal supports complemental to the series of superposed platens, each support for receiving a sheet thereon, each of said supports pivotally mounted adjacent one end thereof. means simultaneously operable adjacent the other end of each of said supports for tilting said supports in unison into inclined planes corresponding to the planes of the press platens, and means for discharging the sheets from the tilted supports into the'spaces between the press platens.

CARL G. MUENCH.

but at an angle to the horizontal, v 

